USB Expansion ~ Help required.

[Specman]

Hi,

I have two USB's on my new lappy but need four ports to run all my kit. I assume that a simple plug and play cable or box isn't going to work as my mount, camera, guide camera ect would be a huge drain on my power/system/ single port. I have heard said that somethings just don't work on hubs expecially with long cables.

Looking for a decent powered hub that will run all my stuff comfortably. Any advice or help much appreciated.

Clear skies

Mark

[Bizibilder]

I use a four way unpowered USB hub with no problems. I have three USB ports on the lappy - the mount and guide camera get one each and the four way has the imaging camera, dongle for the wireless gamepad and a mouse for the lappy and one spare.

The lappy and mount both run off one 75Ah leisure battery - which comfortably lasts for a whole nights work, even in winter at -5°!

[The Sailor]

I have 4 ports on my laptop, all populated with 7 port hubs not less than 10mts away, all those hubs are populated, never have a problem. Items include 4 x HDDs, 3 x cameras , 1 xTV dongle, 1 xlaser printer, 1 xscanner and other various bits and all showing working .

Jim

[Revs]

I'd just come to this section to ask the very same question, but it's already been answered Un-powered hub, here I come!

This will actually make things easier as I'm wanting to make a wiring loom. I can integrate the hub in to the loom.

Cheers peeps

[PeterW]

NO!!! Get a cheap POWERED hub from marlin or elsewhere... Some devices draw power from the USB port and if you have a long active USB cable, you might get odd effects if there is not enough power available.

Cheers

PEterW

[The Sailor]

Sorry, forgot, all powered .

Jim

[Specman]

Now I'm even more confused.

Spoke to my computer tech guy and he warned about overloading and burning out the USB port as I only have two of them.

He recommended quality adaptors, (can't go wrong with gold plated) to preserve signal and prevent damage. He also advised spreading the load between the ports.

He asked what kind of power all my kit is drawing, god knows! (See sig)

So Questions: What power am I drawing?

What hubs are you all using? (Brand names guys) And more importantly are they working?

Powered or unpowered?

I'm getting a mixed bag of feedback with kit from Ebay costing £1 to Computer shops costing £40, some working, some not, some working intermittently. Both cheap stuff working/not working and vise versa.

I think it would be helpful to build up a better picture of the best way forward.

Clear skies all!

Mark

[NickK]

Always go for powered hubs.

The USB standard specifies the characteristics of the cable (in terms of signal - not that it needs gold plating) thus any USB cable or device that bears the USB logo should (!) meet the standard specification.

For power, the USB standard specifies 500mA max per socket. The problem is that unpowered USB hubs mean you'll quickly pass that as each device is expecting a maximum of 500mA (although many draw less). If you start attempting to draw more from the laptop's USB port then you could easily burn it out (depends on the quality - some will have over-current protection but not all).

A powered hub means that it draws no power from the laptop and the devices connected to the hub draw their power directly from the hub itself.

It should be said that not all devices draw power from the USB. Some use their own power (ie power adaptor/battery etc).

[Specman]

Thank you Nick, that is very helpful. Would something like this be OK?

USB Hub - 4 Port USB 2.0 Smart Hub Pro with Power Supply | USB Hubs | USB & FireWire | LINDY UK

Just seen so many cheap units on Ebay etc for a couple of quid and it does make me wonder about the quality of the build and if they are cheap copies not worth bothering with. Talking to various people some swear by the cheap stuff and for others, it doesn't work and waste their money. Hard to know whats best as kit doesn't work or stops working for hundreds of reasons.

Thanks again.

Mark

[NickK]

Thank you Nick, that is very helpful. Would something like this be OK?

USB Hub - 4 Port USB 2.0 Smart Hub Pro with Power Supply | USB Hubs | USB & FireWire | LINDY UK

It's powered as well as offering unpowered.

I have used LINDY devices in the past (SATA PCI-ExpressCard/34) and found them to be good.

[Specman]

Hi Nick,

I have ordered a Trust unit also from Andy Ellis at Astronomiser. Its 6V powered and Andy is going to make a power cable up for me so I can also run it on my power tank 6V outlet.

Thanks for all your help and advice.

Clear skies!

Mark

[brantuk]

Andy at Astronomiser will fix you up very well. He's a quid or two dearer on average but you do get stuff that works fine with astro gear. He tests it all on telescopes and cameras so you'll have no problems. Got all my cabling and extensions from him as well as a camera mod - never let me down yet

[Specman]

Hi,

I just thought I would follow up this thread with some feedback on what I decided to go with, what worked and what didn't. I purchased an unpowered hub that couldn't cope and caused one or two problems finding various bits of kit. My mount wouldn't work at all through it. I then opted for the following:

Universal 10 Port USB 2.0 Hub ~ Windows 7, Vista, XP: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

It's fantastic and works perfectly with more than enough ports to do the job. I run my mount, guide camera, x-box controller, laptop cooling tray and Canon 1000D through it without any problems at all. At present I'm exploring the possibility of running it from my DC supply.

Cheers

Mark

[MikeP]

If you haven't discovered it yet, it pays to label the ports on the hub and connect devices the same way each time. That avoids the OS looking for drivers you have already installed.

Mike

[NickK]

Labelling each end of multitude of black cables for easy management in the dark too!

[Specman]

The Dyno Gun is at the ready!